1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for fabricating a pattern on a substrate, in particular, the present invention relates to a process for fabricating a pattern on a substrate by ejecting a liquid material in the form of liquid droplets from a liquid droplet ejecting section.
2. Background Art
As a process for fabricating a pattern on a substrate, a process is known in which a film of liquid material for fabricating a pattern is formed on a substrate using a coating process such as the spin coat process, and the film is fabricated into a desired pattern using the photolithography process.
On the other hand, another process has been proposed in which a liquid material is disposed at desired positions on a substrate so as to directly fabricate a film pattern on the substrate. According to this process, fabrication steps relating to the photolithography process may be omitted or simplified.
As a process for disposing a liquid material at desired positions on a substrate, a process is known in which liquid droplets of the liquid material are ejected from nozzles provided in a liquid droplet ejecting section (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 11-274671, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2000-216330). The above process has advantages over a coating process such as the spin coating process in that the liquid material may be used with less loss, and it is easy to control the quantity and positions of the liquid material to be disposed on the substrate. In addition, this process is applicable even to a large substrate that may be difficult to handle in the spin coating process.
However, the process, in which a liquid material is disposed as liquid droplets onto a substrate, encounters a problem in that it is difficult to broaden the width of the film pattern. More specifically, when the volume of one droplet is increased, or when the total amount of the liquid material to be disposed on the substrate is increased in order to widen the film pattern, the performance of the pattern may be degraded due to irregularities at edge portions of the film pattern, and problems such as breakage or a short circuit may occur due to puddles (bulges) of liquid.